Wonju 카지노사이트 DB’s foreign players Malcolm Thomas and Kim Joo-seong, acting coach, replaced foreign players.
In the current professional basketball game, there was no record left except for 0 points in just 5 minutes and a missed attempt at a field goal on the record sheet. It is not a record of a minor bench player. The problem becomes serious if a foreign player who is supposed to play the role of the team’s key player, and also the first option, has such a record.
The protagonist of the ‘0 point’ performance was Malcolm Thomas, a foreign player of Wonju DB. Wonju DB lost 73-92 to Seoul SK in the 2022-2023 SKT Adot Professional Basketball Round 5 held at Wonju Sports Complex on February 18, and fell into a 5-game losing streak. DB, which is in 8th place, has a season record of 16 wins and 25 losses, and it took 1.5 games to win against 6th place Jeonju KCC, the last PO margin.
For DB, being pushed back in the fight against foreign players was decisive. Against SK, Jamil Warney (19 points, 9 rebounds) and Lyon Williams (10 points, 4 rebounds) split the playing time and scored 29 points and 13 rebounds without spending much time. Domestic players such as Oh Jae-hyeon (15 points, 3 3-point shots) and Choi Seong-won (14 points, 4 3-point shots) also supported outside shots.
On the other hand, DB’s foreign players only Leonard Freeman (10 points, 14 rebounds) struggled with a double-double alone, while another foreign player, Thomas Malcolm Thomas, played only 5 minutes and 18 seconds, ending up scoreless. Literally, not only the scoring, but the overall team contribution was also ‘zero points’.
Lee Seon Albano, an Asian quarterback, scored 14 points and 7 assists, the most in the team, and Kim Jong-kyu struggled with 12 points and 4 rebounds while taking on matchups with foreign big men, but it was not enough to handle SK’s firepower inside and outside. Acting manager Kim Joo-seong showed openly disappointment in Thomas by managing the game with only five domestic players at the beginning of the 4th quarter when the game was energized.
Thomas signed a contract with Wonju DB on February 3rd. Thomas, who had the experience of playing for Ulsan Hyundai Mobis in the 2011-2012 season, was returning to KBL after 11 years. At the time, Thomas averaged 20.8 points, 10.7 rebounds and 3.2 assists in 17 games at Hyundai Mobis.
Although he was kicked out at the beginning of the season, at the time, the foreign player system had 1 player and 1 player, and the background of the quick replacement was that he showed weakness in defense and physical strength to deal with authentic big men. However, at the time, Thomas was a young prospect who had just graduated from college, and as his record showed, his performance was not bad.
After leaving Korea, Thomas tried to step on the NBA (Mipro Basketball) stage with the San Antonio Spurs, Chicago Bulls, and Utah Jazz, albeit for a short time, and accumulated experience through various leagues such as China, Russia, Germany, and Turkey. Just before returning to KBL, he averaged 11.8 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.1 assists in the Russian league in the 2022-2023 season.
DB, which was considering a foreign player replacement, selected Thomas as a resource to replace Dewan Hernandez with the first option. Hernandez has played in 29 games for DB this season, averaging 14.6 points and 6.4 rebounds. He wasn’t too bad, but his performance was lacking for a first option foreign player. The reason for his superficial replacement was a chronic foot injury, but it was not so much that he could not play the game, and his lack of defense, rebound control, and frequent ups and downs were cited as the biggest drawbacks.
The replacement of Hernandez and the recruitment of Thomas at DB were an adventure bet to advance to the semifinal playoffs. It is known that acting coach Kim Joo-seong directly decided to recruit Thomas through a video.
But the results were bad. Just before Hernandez was replaced, DB, which was cruising with 4 consecutive wins and 5 wins and 2 losses under the acting manager system of Kim Joo-seong, raising hopes of advancing to the final 6, fell into a 5-game losing streak in an instant as soon as Thomas joined.
At the center of the losing streak was Thomas. Thomas recorded a disastrous performance of 4.2 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.6 assists in the five games he played after returning to the KBL. There has never been a game where they scored double digits or played more than 30 minutes. When I opened the lid, Thomas was not physically ready at all, and the disadvantages of avoiding physical fights or weak defense were the same as 12 years ago.
Above all, it is only 3.6 field goal attempts per game, as if he lacks confidence in himself. Lack of initiative or responsibility as option 1. Thomas was busy turning the ball rather than attempting an attack even in a situation where he was mismatched with a domestic player. However, it does not contribute to the team in terms of defense or activity.
In the case of Hernandez, his predecessor, Miu and Gou, at least one offense was certain, but Thomas’ current team contribution is lower than that of quite a few domestic players, to be honest. He recruited with the expectation of playing the role of a more seasoned veteran than 12 years ago, but he only confirmed that his skills had declined as he got older.
Coinciding with the timing of Thomas’ replacement, Daejinun, where there were a series of head-to-head matches with leading teams, including Anyang KGC, was also painful for DB. However, considering that Seoul Samsung, the lowest ranked team, was caught at the end of the battle, there are also evaluations that the result would not have changed significantly no matter what opponent the current DB met.
DB lost to the opposing team in the offensive power of foreign players throughout the five-game losing streak. Even Leonard Freeman, who was forced to take over the first option position due to the replacement of Hernandez and the sluggishness of Thomas, is shaking as well, perhaps because of the burden. Among DB fans, there is a growing voice of criticism about the poisonous foreign replacement, saying, “If this is the case, why did you replace Hernandez?”
In the end, acting coach Kim Joo-seong, who had reached the limit of his patience, suggested another foreign player replacement in two weeks. There is still hope for a reversal as the gap with the top 6 is still not large. However, it is very difficult to find a replacement foreign player at the end of the season, and DB has no choice but to be more careful as there is only one replacement card left.
Like Thomas, he could not directly check the player’s condition, only looked at the video and records, and then suddenly recruited, and then again, the risk was too great. If DB does not advance to the semifinals this season, Thomas’ failure to replace could be the most painful moment for Kim Joo-sung and DB.